About Your Visit

What to bring to your appointment

Please be sure to arrive on time and please bring the following with you to your appointment:

  • Your insurance card (If you do not have insurance or the doctor you are seeing does not participate in your insurance plan, you are required to pay at the time of service.)
  • An up-to-date list of any medications you may be taking and their dosages
  • Current eyeglasses and/or contact lens prescription
  • If necessary, any referral form/authorization from your primary care physician before seeing a specialist
  • Any questions you may have for your physician

To reduce your appointment wait time, we encourage you to download and complete the patient profile and registration forms before arriving to your appointment. Please bring the completed forms to our office at the time of your first visit. They can be found here.

What to expect at your visit

If this is your first appointment, after check-in you will be escorted into the examination area by an ophthalmic technician who will review your essential health information, the reason for your visit, and begin your electronic medical record. For many patients, several diagnostic measurements may also be needed at this time, such as visual acuity, glaucoma test, etc. Most patients, including children, will then need pupillary dilation, which requires a 30 minute period after eye drops are administered. In order to accommodate all patients please be on-time for your appointments. Patients who are significantly late will be asked to reschedule.

We will do our utmost to proceed as rapidly as possible, but ask that you allow approximately two hours for this initial evaluation. Subsequent visits are substantially shorter for most patients, but vary according to the individual needs.

At Weill Cornell Eye Associates, we are committed to the education of our future physicians (who are accepted for training after an extremely competitive application process) as well as the performance of research that will result in new and improved treatments. Your appointment may include interactions with residents or fellows who learn by assisting the faculty physician and remain under immediate supervision at all times.

We also participate in a large number of clinical research trials for many eye conditions, and you may be asked if you are interested in enrolling in such a trial. Participation in a clinical trial is always completely voluntary and optional, and Weill Cornell Medical College adheres to the highest standards in research involving human participants. If you are unsure whether there is an ongoing trial concerning your condition, please feel free to ask your physician.

If you have questions about any of the information above, please do not hesitate to contact us at weillcornelleye@med.cornell.edu or 646-962-2020.

Thank you again for allowing us to participate in your care, and we will do everything possible to preserve or restore the gift of sight for you and your loved ones.